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Topic: Play in the clutch basket! (Read 366 times)

Okay, so I'm working on a friend's Bullet Standard 350 cast iron and on opening the primary cover, found a lot of side to side play from the clutch.

Tightening the centre nut didn't help much and so I went on to get the entire clutch case off the bike. The nut on the primary sprocket was found to be loose, and on tightening it, the play has reduced.

However, the clutch bell itself still has a lot of play when mounted on the centre. On removing the retainer clip, it was found that the centre race, on which the balls roll, was devoid of much visible wear - just some dark marking but absolutely no ridges.

My manuals don't say anything about this and my older Brit bikes don't exhibit this much play anyway. My question is if this play is normal and if so, then how much is too much.

With the springs and plates removed, I think the clutch basket is always going to flop around quite a bit. You will have noticed that the back of the basket carries a riveted friction lining and this bears against the flange of the clutch centre as the basket flops down under gravity. This effectively gives you an extra plate pair for free, at the expense of the clutch never fully disengaging. Better if this thrust bearing surface was made from bronze.

My clutch does the same thing. You look at it and you can grab the basket and literally move it around side to side about an 1/8" in any direction. You are correct about the the play being in the ball bearing mounting flange in the basket and the clutch hub in the mating area itself. As far as I know the only cure is to replace it with a belt drive. I personally JUST rebuilt my entire clutch about 3 weeks ago. New friction plates, new steel plates, new basket inserts, new springs and new bearings. Even with all of the sloppy play in there, my clutch works great with no issues. Just don't use Advance Auto Parts brand Type F ATF fluid in the primary. Something about that stuff caused my clutch to slip very badly.

You have two bearings on that shaft. Check the one in the end cover (small bearing) for damage and then check the large bearing (sprocket side). If they need replacing, use sealed bearings so you can use gear oil. You should be able to replace the main shaft bearing (large) with the gearbox in place. You will have to remove the outer primary case to remove the gearbox sprocket. While your in there you should also check the lay shaft bushing. I think Hitchcock's sells a complete rebuild kit with all the parts needed.